Governing diesel marine engines



May 15, 1934- v. HEIDELBERG GOVERNING DIESEL MARINE EfiGINES Filed Aug. 22, 1927 u a J a b, T 1, v w \Q m w. e A m '33 Z R ed W Po o 0 w 4%? M .v .i 4 3 0 m0 2. o o o W E f H Vikfor. hel'delbelg yfi yflrdwvlu A'hfya.

Patented May 15, 1934 UNITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE many,

assignmto Humboldt-Deutzmotoren A. G., Cologne-Dents, Germany Application August 22, 1927, Serial No. 214,719 In Germany August 30, 1926 2 Claims. (Cl. 123l40) In driving ships it is less important to maintain a constant number of revolutions of the engine than to impart a uniform torque to the screw shaftwhich varies with the course,

5 draught of the ship, and changes of weather.

. Diesel marine engines were formerly controlled by manually adjusting the fuel pump charge. The governor in this case acts only as a maximum speed cut out or safety device, and the opposing spring is so adjusted that the gov-- ernor only comes into action when the revolutions exceed a predetermined value. There is, however, the difliculty, that at low speeds of rotation the torque due to the resistance of the 5 propeller is so small that variations of this torque due to the slight variations in the number of revolutions cannot be compensated by the manual adjustment of the charge. This is a considerable drawback, for example in fishing vessels, in which, owing to the nets being dragged, a constant operation of the manual adjusting member is required to maintain the engine at its low speed, and the slightest mistake, which is quite unavoidable in the manual control, causes the engine to stop.

An automatically operating speed governing device, which at the same time allows also a manual control of the fuel charge, is particularly necessary in a heavy sea in which the load 0 on the engine is constantly varied as the propelleris alternately immersed in and raised out of the water, since the engine when running at low speed must not be allowed to stop.

According to the present invention, this is obtained by an arrangement which permits varying the sensitivenessof the governor. In the illustrative embodiment of the invention this may be accomplished by adjusting the force of the spring of the governor to different values.

herein illustratively two of which one corresponds to the highest permissible speed of rotation and the other to the most favourable no loadspeed, that is, to the number of revolutions at which the engine runs at the lowest speed consistent with ensuring the fuel ignition.

There are, therefore, different regions of control and in accordance with the invention the control in these various regions may be either automatic or manual or both. In the illustrative 5o embodiment of the invention herein described, in the first or highest speed, the region which extends from the lowest number of revolutions to which the governor responds, to the highest permissible speed in which the governor entirely cuts oil. the charge, the engine is controlled preferably automatically. In the second or middle region, which includes the speeds of rotation in which the governor is inactive, there region of control to the second region, the spring 701 acting in the opposite direction, the tension of which is not altered, has relatively a greater effect and removes or lessens the resistance of the adjusting gear of the governor, more particularly the weight of the sleeve, which at low speeds would be too great in comparison with the force exerted by the governor. Therefore, according to the invention, the tension of the spring acting against the main control spring can be varied within certain limits in order to 83 adjustthe governing system to the particular conditions of the engine and of the ship.

The accompanying drawings show an example of a governing device according to the invention, in WhiCh I 5 Fig. 1 shows a Diesel engine with the governing device in condition for the third or lowest speed region, and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of the governor showing the position of parts for the middle and upper regions.

In the embodiment of the invention herein shown and described, the spindle a of the governor is driven by gearing b and carries a plate 0 on which are pivoted at d the centrifugal weights e. The deflection of the weights e is transmitted to a rotating sleeve 1 against the action of a control spring 9. A ball bearing is inserted between the sleeve j and a piston shaped cup 1', to which one end of the spring is secured and which is guided in a casing 11., so that the portion of the regulating device above the sleeve 1 does not rotate. An upper cup k to which the other end of the spring is secured, and which is also guided in the casing 11., can be fixed, by. 5 means of two notches Z' and Z" in the segment Z of the handle m, in either of two positions, of which the upper 1" (Fig. 1) corresponds to the third or lowest speed region, and the lower notch 1" (Fig. 2) corresponds to the upper and middle speed regions. The sleeve j which is moved against the action of the spring g transmits its movement through the lever system n to an eccentric 0 which is pivoted at 0'. Around the cocentric o is a second eccentric p which is actuated by a manual adjusting member q. The con-' trol exerted by the governor or the hand adjusting member is transmitted through an eccentric strap 1' and a link s, lever s and a second link s to the means for regulating the charge of the fuel pump t, herein exemplified by the rotary valve t As shown, the valve t is in the form of a disk eccentrically mounted on the end of a rotary valve stem 25 so as more or less to cover the port t of the pump by-pass passage t when the valve stem is rotated by its connection to the link 8 said connection as herein illustrated consisting of an arm t fixedly carried by the end of the valve stem t Herein the fuel pump is provided with a plunger t reciprocated by a cam t and lever t so as to cause the fuel to flow through the suction valve t into the pump cylinder and be forced from said cylinder through ihe discharge valve into the pipe t for supplying fuel charges to the Diesel engine cylinder i As the by-pass passage t opens into the suction pipe t of the pump, more or less covering the port it acts to increase or diminish the fuel charge to'the engine cylinder.

In the position Z of the control spring g (Fig. 1) corresponding to the third or lowest speed region, the engine runs at its lowest speed, consequently the manual adjusting member q is set in the position shown of greatest change. .A spring q ensures that it shall remain in this position while the governor rotates the eccentric 0 through the lever system 11,. so that the charge of the fuel pump t shall not be below that required to keep the engine going. Under these conditions the control is entirely automatic and is adapted for circumstances, such as that referred to in the case of fishing vessels, in which the speed of the engine is low and the governor must be sensitive to respond to slight variations of speed. The tension of a spring u, inserted between the cup 1 and a. spindle w screwthreaded in the top of the casing h, is adjustable by a hand wheel y. This spring u acts in opposition to the spring 9 and tends to 4 of the fuel pump by the resultant eccentricity of the two eccentrics o, p. This position includes the conditions for controlling the fuel charge in the two speed regions described above as the upper middle regions.

In the middle region, the control is entirely by hand and maintains a constant torque exerted by the engine in spite of variations due to changes of weather, draught, etc.. in order that the engine shall work under the most economical conditions. The governor at the same time ensures that a permissible speed shall not be exceeded. The tension of the spring u is unaffected by the change in the position of the handle m, but the force exerted by the spring 9 is relatively so great that the opposing force due to the spring u has but little effect.

If the speed is still further increased, the upper speed region is reached in which the fuel charge is controlled entirely by the governor, which also acts as a safety device ifthe permissible speed is exceeded.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiments to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said'invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:-

1. In mechanism for controlling in response to engine speed the fuel pump of 3, Diesel engine for driving a ships propeller, an engine speed governor of I the centrifugal type having a loading spring, link mechanism operatively connecting said governor to the fuel charge regulating means of the fuel pump for controlling said means in response to engine speed, manually operated means for readily varying the tension of said loading spring, said manually operated means having a position of adjustment which will maintain the minimum engine speed that will secure fuel ignition under no load conditions and a second position of adjustment which will maintain said engine at high cruising speed, said link mechanism having readily relatively adjustable parts for controlling said fuel charge regulating means of said pump independently of said governor, and a second manually operated means operatively connected to said link mechanism for effecting such adjustment of said parts for manually readily establishing and maintaining engine speeds between said minimum speed and said cruising speed during manoeuvring of the vessel.

2. That improvement .in the method of controlling a Diesel engine for driving a ships propeller of the type having an engine speed governor for automatically controlling the fuel pump, which comprises adjusting the governor either to cause the same automatically to maintain the minimum idling speed that will secure fuel ignition or to maintain a high cruising load speed, and securing intermediate speeds for manoeuvring the ship by adjusting the fuel pump independently of the governor.

VIKTOR HEIDELBERG. 

